eBay buyer sued for defamation after leaving negative feedback on auction site

An eBay buyer who left negative feedback for a seller after receiving a broken $44 (£30) clock has been hit by a $15,000 (£9,700) lawsuit for defamation.

Furious Michael Steadman wrote that Elliot Miller was a 'bad seller, he has the ethics of a used car salesman' when the clock arrived in three pieces that did not even fit together.

But Miller, a lawyer, was so outraged by the comment that he sued Steadman, claiming damages for ruining his 100 per cent feedback rating and harming his 'commercial reputation'.

The case is now in the hands of a court in Miami, Florida.

Mr
Steadman said the case had so far cost him $7,000 (4,554 pounds) in
lawyers’ fees.

'It’s not safe to say anything online,' he told
the Florida Today newspaper.

'You don’t have a freedom of speech.
The laws don’t work for us. Because I don’ t have the money to fight
them, I’m losing. It’s not right.'

Mr Miller, whose positive
feedback score is 98.8 per cent, states in the lawsuit that the clock
was 'plainly offered for sale with the following language: "We cannot
give you any guarantees and must offer it on an as-is, where-is basis
only".'

His own lawyer, Judith Frankel, refused to comment. 'It’ll
be resolved in the courts,' she said.

Mr Steadman, an eBay member for six months, said he wanted the clock, which time stamped employees’ cards, for a small welding business he runs in Cape Canaveral.

After sending the money to Mr Miller, he said the clock arrived in three shipments and the parts appeared to be from different models and were incompatible.

He filed a complaint with eBay’s buyer protection programme and got his money back, but said he wanted to leave the negative feedback to warn other potential buyers.

He said he thought that was the end of the matter until a man in a suit turned up at his business and served him with a court summons.

Mr Miller, who has been a member of eBay since September 2003, sells electrical components and hardware on his page and has more than 300 positive comments. One recent buyer wrote: 'Item arrived quickly and exactly as described. Easy transaction, thanks.'

But another unhappy buyer in December suggested that Mr Miller sent him a broken item.

'Seller suggested we unload obviously broke unit on another unsuspecting buyer.' he wrote.

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eBay buyer sued for defamation after leaving negative feedback on auction site